A common problem, especially for those who wear running shoes, is the inadvertent unraveling of the shoelace bow tie knot. In addition, unraveling of the knot can be a problem for small children, who are unable to re-tie the knot, and may trip or fall due to the open laces. Elderly people may also have problems bending down to re-tie a shoelace when there is no place nearby to sit down to re-do the knot.
Currently, there are several products on the market that may be used to achieve a similar result, but function differently. They are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9ctie-lessxe2x80x9d shoe laces. One product is a shoelace in the form of a coil (identical to coiled telephone cord that connects the hand held receiver to the dialing device or wall unit), which is inserted in place of a conventional shoelace. The loose ends remain tightly coiled, and thus do not drag on the floor. In addition, the elasticity of the coil ends allows disabled people to slip their feet into the shoes without having to bend over to adjust or tie laces. However, these laces do not provide as tight a fit as conventional laces with knots, and thus are not suitable for running shoes. Another device, called a xe2x80x9cmicro-lacexe2x80x9d, slides over the two ends of an open shoelace, and can be pushed down to tighten the laces. However, the protruding lace ends need to be tied so as not to drag on the floor, and thus a conventional knot is usually needed, even though the shoelace remains snug on the foot due to the micro-lace stop constriction device.
In contrast, the present lace lasso invention is applied after the knot is made in the usual fashion, and simply prevents the knot from unraveling. The shoelace knot ends are encircled by a restraining material, typically an elastic cord, to prevent the knot from unraveling. The restrained knot stalk can be attached to the shoe, or left as is, depending on the requirements of the user.
There are two significant components which comprise this invention. The first component is a restraining material which can easily encircle the four pieces of the shoelace knot, when grouped in a stalk-like configuration. Candidate materials are elastic cord, thin rope, Velcro fabric, or rubber cord. The second component provides an easily adjustable item which can be used to select the tension on the restraining material. The two prime examples are ripstops (also known as cord locks) for cord material, and Velcro fastener for fabric materials. The design is such that the component pieces of the shoelace knot (loops and ends) can easily and quickly be encircled by the restraining material. Both elastic cord and fabric with Velcro attachments are suitable, since they can be stretched or adjusted to allow for easy encircling or insertion of the knot pieces.
Several mechanisms can work with these materials to allow for easy adjustment of the tension in the material surrounding the knot. The simplest and quickest tension adjusting device is a ripstop, a spring-loaded cylinder with an accessible hole through it when the button on top is depressed to allow free passage of cord through an aperture underneath the spring-loaded button. Ripstops are commonly found on duffel bag cords and cords used in parka hoods to secure them snugly around one""s head. After releasing the button when the cord is adjusted, the spring provides a mechanism to lock the cord in place by pressure, preventing the cord from relaxing tension on the part surrounding the shoelace knot stalk. Velcro can also be used with fabric strips, which are wound around and object and then secured with a Velcro strip to prevent unraveling and slippage.
Another component of the lace lasso is an optional link between the restraining material encircling the knot stalk and the shoe itself. This linkage can prevent the knot stalk from flopping around by securing it tightly to the shoe top. Candidate materials are the same as those used for encircling the knot. The distance between the point at which the shoe knot is encircled and the location at which it is attached to the shoe can be controlled by the amount of play in the cord or fabric used to grab the knot stalk. A ripstop cylinder can easily be adopted to meet these requirements. Velcro fasteners require more manual dexterity in securing the shoelace knot, since they have to be wrapped more carefully to ensure a snug fit.